Rear main seal leak

godfreyhiggs · Post by **godfreyhiggs** » 13 May 2005, 21:11

I just purchased my 98 S70 around for 2 months and I have a rear main seal leak. I thought about repairing it myself. Is this a large undertaking? or should I buckle down and have a mechanic ( who is going to charge me a arm and 2 legs to fix it) do the work ? thanks for the advise

White850Turbo · Post by **White850Turbo** » 14 May 2005, 05:50

godfreyhiggs wrote:I just purchased my 98 S70 around for 2 months and I have a rear main seal leak. I thought about repairing it myself. Is this a large undertaking? or should I buckle down and have a mechanic ( who is going to charge me a arm and 2 legs to fix it) do the work ? thanks for the advise

Ouch. To replace the rear main seal, you have to take the transmission out of the car (i.e. It's a VERY tough job unless you have a lift and you know what you're doing). I think it would be wise to fix what caused the RMS to leak in the first place. The most likely cause would be positive crankcase pressure due to a clogged PCV system. So... when you have the rear main seal replaced, you should clean the PCV system out and replace the oil box to prevent having to pay for another rear main seal job in 40k miles. If you're in the Dallas area by the way, I have an independent Volvo master mechanic that does rear main seals for $450. Most independent shops will probably charge between $650-$800 total. The dealer should be in the neighborhood of about $1000 for the repair.